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I'm thinking of turning my model-making hobby into a side business. Does this board think there is a market for custom bass wood architectural models of Wright designs? What do you think would be a fair price? The ballpark is easily hundreds and possibly thousands depending on the complexity of the design.

Certainly. Would you do monochromatic basswood, or fully colored and textured surfaces ? Glazing ? Scale ? With or without surrounding topography ?

These are all the questions I've asked myself, when contemplating the subject.

I'd be satisfied, ultimately, with a 1:4 or 1:6 model of Fallingwater including 50 yd radius site condition. Some living bonsai landscaping, certainly---perhaps radio or
robotic vehicles. Indoor and outdoor lighting, of course, the model housed in a room where various daylighting and night-time environments could be reproduced.

I'm thinking that the scale/level of detail would be worked out for each customer based on their preferences and budget. The models should be on a MDF base with layers of cork to represent the topography, possibly a plexiglass box cover. My personal tastes are for more minimalist style of model as opposed to OCD diorama style. The basswood works well for wood Usonian houses, but less well for masonry like Fallingwater.

Representing the differences is important. I've used foam core to represent stucco or concrete surface and at certain scales the grain of wood can convey the roughness of masonry. I think the reason Fallingwater is such a hard design to model is the importance of distinguishing the interplay of masonry, cement, and glass. But there are so many wood Usonians that would be great in basswood.

Yup. A Fallingwater model would be wrong in wood---echoing again the reality. Not that I haven't imagined a poor man's FW, built of stone and wood, partially grilled or grated, open or seeming so to the weather, the woods, the stream ...

Perhaps either unbuilt projects of interest or correcting built buildings so wrong it hurts would be interesting. Watkins or Morris #2 would be interesting unrealized projects, and a corrected Ennis would be worthwhile as well.

Most of my model making has been of unbuilt projects like the original Booth House. It's the best way to understand the design. Of course, many today would just create a CAD model, but there may be an audience for physical models.

If you are serious regarding selling models of Frank Lloyd Wright designs for profit, before you go too far, you might want to check with Sean Malone, president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, to be sure you don't overstep copyright or trademark boundaries. I'm just sayin . . .

The architect's name is copyrighted (and, presumably, trademarked), at the very least. One imagines that it would be odd, but not impossible, to market models of his work without using his name. The interesting question would be whether the buildings themselves are protected by copyright. By all means, check it out thoroughly.

As an example, there are multiple models of Fallingwater visible online. Are any of those offered for sale ? If so, what have the makers done to satisfy the law ? Their example(s) could be useful.